Gideon Legal

Automated Intake for Law Firms

client journey

Messaging, Marketing

All Saints Day: Hallmarks of Good Clients

The quest for most lawyers is to acquire the best possible clients, who always pay in full.  I know, right: from your lips to God’s ear.

But, how do you know if a client is a ‘good’ client, before working with them?

Just as you can look for ‘red flags’, indicating that clients would be a poor fit for you law firm, you may be pleasantly surprised by some attributes of your potential clients, which will make their hire by you ‘no-brainers’.

What does that list look like?

-Potential clients who are inquisitive about the legal process, but aren’t bossy about what they want you to do, likely better understand your role as a guide into the legal system, than the sort of client who wants you to just bend to their wishes all the time.

-Potential clients, who are inquisitive about the payment process, and the total cost of representation, aren’t potentially bad clients – they’re just asking the right questions.  You can start to worry if they begin to hunt for discounts.

-Potential clients who have reasonable expectations, and don’t rush you, are likely to give you some space to breathe, when you do start to represent them.

-On a related note, potential clients who aren’t asking you to do things before the attorney-client relationship is agreed to, have a good understanding of how the attorney-client relationship works – and have a certain level of respect for your work, even before it’s begun.

-Potential clients who do things for you when you ask for them during the intake process (like scheduling appointments, paying fees and signing things) are likely to become the sorts of clients that get you things when you need them, when you start representing them.

Better to find out in advance, about who your best clients will be.  And there are clear markers that will help you to identify them.

Marketing, Messaging, Technology

Turn on the Faucet: Drip Campaigns Can Be Used for a Lot of Different Things

A ‘drip campaign’ is a series of marketing messages.  And, those messages could be sent via a number of different platforms, including email and text.  Drip campaigns can be used to stay in touch with different segments of your contacts (including former clients and other referral sources), or following up on requests.  And, the advantage of automating messages like these is tremendously useful, because you can remove human effort from the equation, as well as the cost associated with it.

The great thing is that there are a number of uses for drip campaigns, including the following (not an exhaustive list):

-You can send a monthly client alert – you just need to pull together the content.

-You can send a quarterly enewsletter – (ditto).

-You can build a client journey for intake, including for making and following up on appointment scheduling.

-You can send a payment link or document signature request, and followup on those on a recurring basis.

-You can build a messaging sequence for closing a file, and staying in touch with those former clients.

Remember all those emails and phone calls you used to send manually, to followup and stay in touch . . .

Forget about it!

Technology, Marketing

If You Build It, They Will Convert – Part 3: Managing Workflows

Law firm workflows should be automated, to the extent possible.

Softwares for managing workflows are prevalent – so, options abound.  But, lawyers often equate the notion of ‘high-touch’ service (which they also highly value) to in-person communications.  However, the fact of the matter is that you can be ‘high-touch’ without personally engaging a legal consumer – including via the use of followup messages, and by providing quick turnaround on action items.

I mean, think about it: What’s the better customer experience?  Your client waiting for your phone call or a series of email messages to schedule an appointment – or, scheduling via an automated calendar application.  It’s pretty clearly the latter.  Speedy and efficient reactions may not be ‘high-touch’ interactions, as law firms often designate them – but, those interactions are ‘high-value’ transactions.

So, when you’re implementing workflows, determine which interactions actually require a person; but, don’t add people when you don’t have to – because people cost more than software.

In an intake workflow, for example, you may only need an in-person interaction to determine whether a potential conflict exists, or for an initial consultation.  Everything else (initial intake, qualification, signing, payment – as well as followups for same) can (and should) be automated.

The less you (personally) have to do in any given workflow, the more time you have to generate new high-value clients, or work on the high-value work from the clients you already have.

Automations opens you up to opportunities.

Messaging, Marketing, Technology

If You Build It, They Will Convert – Part 2: Launching Workflows

The most important thing you can do to implement law firm workflows is to get buy-in.

Ideally, you don’t want to just drop a new workflow on your staff, and be like: good luck, y’all.  That would be a terrible idea.  But, one that law firms often engage anyway.

So, in the best-case scenario, you take those steps we went over last time, to manually generate workflows, and you build that out in conjunction with your staff.  That should be a team effort, because everyone has something to contribute, based on the specific interactions they have with your law firm leads, and clients.  If you do that, you remove the element of surprise, which can be devastating for the launch of a new initiative.  That’s why most law firm change management efforts are stillborn.

But, from there, it should remain a team effort.  Implementing the workflows should involve everyone.  Folks need to know what will be automated, and where they need to step in.  Everyone should have an understanding of the tools needed – electronic (software-based), and others.  Everyone should have an intimate idea of their responsibilities, but will also be aware of the entirety of the workflow.

Now, process management does not end there.  Law firms should continue to iterate on workflows, to ensure that they are high-performing – in the same way you would manage your staff.  Because, in the end, workflows just need to work.  So, keep an open line of communication as to suggestions for improvements to workflows that staff can spot.  And, continue to review your workflows on a regular basis, at least annually.  You can also use data analytics, which are more and more prevalent in legal software these days, to test the viability of your workflows in the real world.

Technology, Marketing, Messaging

If You Build It, They Will Convert – Part 1: Workflow Design

Most law firms I talk to want law firm processes in a box.

The devastating news is, that those don’t exist.

While processes and workflows are extremely valuable for all businesses, including law firms – building them can be challenging.  But, the effort is well worth it, if you can maintain those processes as part of your law firm structure.

So, there is a trick here; and, it’s pretty easy.  There’s a two-step method to building effective workflows.  That’s it: just two things.  And, the secret sauce is as follows:

-First, map out the entire workflow – on a piece of paper, in a workflow management tool, wherever.  Just build the map, so it can be followed, by others.

-Second, get super granular.  Be as specific as possible about each item in the workflow, including asking questions about consumer behavior.  What would leads do/require in each case?  For example, how many followups are necessary for the fulfillment of a workflow task, and via which communication method?  And, who should be the task owner, and why?  At which point does the full workflow complete, and why?  And, that may be a different answer for a lead (lost leads) versus a client, where a certain result must happen, eg – the filling of a motion in court.

Ask those picky questions, and build a map, to design really effective workflows.